JOY BEHAR

“My First Ex-Husband” @ the MMAC Theater January 29, 2025

The woman with bigger balls than any man I’ve ever known, comedian, playwright and host of The View Joy Behar will be at starring off-Broadway in her self-written, hilariously funny “My First Ex-Husband” @ the MMAC Theater (248 West 60th Street) from January 29 – February 23. She will be joined by Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Tovah Feldshuh (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), and Adrienne C. Moore (Orange is the New Black). Each month, the cast will change, bringing new voices and perspectives to the unfiltered, messy truths about love, marriage and divorce. Beyond February 23, other cast members each month will include Judy Gold, Susan Lucci, Cathy Moriarty, Tonya Pinkins, Gina Gershon, Jackie Hoffman, Veanne Cox, and Andrea Navedo. 

An original member of ABC’s The View, Joy Behar has been honored with a plethora of awards, including the 2009 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host, three MAC awards, a CableACE Award and a 2000 GLAAD Award for relentless support of the LGBTQ+ community. She has appeared on screen (“This Is My Life”, “Manhattan Murder Mystery”), in theater (“The Food Chain”, “The Vagina Monologues”), and aside from The View, she is an acclaimed TV veteran (HBO, “BabyBoom”, “Crisis in Six Scenes”). She has hosted her own radio show and penned five books, including her most recent “The Great Gasbag: An A-to-Z Study Guide-to Surviving Trump World.”

Joy was fun and sincere, and when doing an interview, there is not much more you can ask for. She has an enormous amount of energy and a creative ability that goes beyond, and she’s a gay advocate as well. Without giving too much of My First Ex-Husband away, this comedy is going to go viral on many different levels. 

INTERVIEW >>>

I feel like you are one of the most sought after people to be interviewed on the planet right now.

Oh, really, why is that?

Well, a lot of reasons. Because everyone I mentioned your name to is like “Oh my God”, so that’s one reason.

Once you open your mouth and state an opinion on television, you lose half the audience. They hate you or love you. 

It is still people who know who you are. Even if it’s negative attention. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your time in advance. And I want to congratulate you on your play. And I wanted to know aside from your first ex-husband, what motivated you to create the play “My First Ex-Husband”?

It’s a funny thing. After I got divorced, I just went on with my life. But years later, I thought, “Why do people get divorced, exactly?” People would ask me what happened and I would ask people what happened. I had a few girlfriends who were divorced, so I thought, “I’m going to interview these girls and put it on tape and see what they have to say about it”. So I got a couple of people that I knew. I interviewed them. I sat there with them for several hours and this started back in 2013. I transcribed everything myself. And I found that there was gold in “them Thar hills”. It was interesting stuff. A lot of them had very good insights. Then I decided to turn them into monologues to see if I could do it something with this. I was doing The Vagina Monologues and I like that format. I did that one and I also did Love Loss, And What I Wore. And I thought, “This is such a fun thing to do because you don’t have to memorize anything”. You can keep changing the cast so none of the actresses have to commit for too long of a time. That was sort of appealing to people in the industry. They don’t want to be there for 10 years, you know. Now they only have to be there for four weeks and then we switch it again.

So each time you have a new cast, their stories are different?

No. I might change them. But no, not really. I’m writing more. I have three in my back pocket. If I have an actress who seems to fit that monologue more, then I could switch it. But if they don’t, then the ones I have are good.

No, what I meant was, let’s say I go to see your show and then I go to the next one with let’s say Susan Lucci. Her monologue would be different?

No. She’s going to do the same monologue that she did in the first batch. You might want to come again down the line if you want to hear some new ones. I might be replacing some. The main reason to see it more than once is to see a different actor.

Everybody on the planet that I know has had at least one first ex husband. Including myself, so I think it’s a great topic.

Even Gloria Steinem told me it was a good idea and it was about time somebody did this.

What are you hoping people will walk away with, aside from a night of entertainment? Do you think they’ll walk away with any kind of knowledge or insight?

I’m hoping that they can relate to the story. When you hear somebody else’s story, you feel less lonely and less crazy. I hope that they’ll relate to it because there are stories in there that are kind of universal.

There are different topics and reasons to get divorced. My first husband from 30 years ago is now my client.

He’s your client?

Yeah. I have a PR Company and he’s in a band and my client.

So if I had to ask you in one or two sentences why did you get a divorce, what would you tell me?

I married him when I was 16 years old because he played guitar better than me.

Isn’t that funny? I mean, a lot of these stories are like that. It’s kind of like, “What?” I was 22, so I can relate to the fact that you were actually even younger than I was and there’s new research that says your brain is not even done until you hit 25. So we were really much too young.

I have never watched The View until last night because I kind of wanted to get to know you a little bit better. What kept your attention for so long? You have been there for so long.

I’ve been there for 28 years. With a hiatus imposed on me for two of those. So, 26 years…I think it’s coming on 27. The fact that you can be yourself. I started out as an actress, which didn’t really appeal to me that much. Stand up comedy–that’s my area. What I was able to do with that was to be myself on stage. I was able to add from that and subtract from that and make it into a piece. The View is kind of similar in that you are yourself and it is spontaneous. And you really can’t beat a job like that, and it’s in New York.

I see you are on Long Island. Girl, so am I.

Well, I was raised in Brooklyn and now I live in Manhattan, but Long Island is where I was living when I was married the first time.

Is there a moment that you can recall that change the whole trajectory of your life?

Well, my divorce. At the same time I divorced my first husband, I had a near death experience. I also got fired from my job at Good Morning America. I was sort of an assistant receptionist person there. The three things happened all at the same time. Within a year and a half of each other. And I think that little trifecta turned me around. 

Have you had your ultimate stage fantasy yet or are you still looking for it?

My fantasy is coming true right now as I am writing plays. This is not the only one. I have another one called “Bonkers In The Buroughs” that we probably are going to be producing in the fall. I have other short please that I’ve written. I even have a long one that I’ve written called Crisis in Queens. So, I’m doing it, Whatever the fantasy is, I’m in the middle of it right now. I don’t have another fantasy at the moment. I did a one-person show at the Cherry Lane theater. Me, My Mouth and I. That was another thing I’ve always wanted to do. Now I’m doing this, plus I have a job at The View. I mean, I have a lot going on. By the way, a lot of the facts and information and trajectory of the piece are all anonymous. Everything is anonymous. Nobody knows who anybody is. And that’s a very important point. And then I also change a lot.

So, you are still really writing. It’s an ongoing project, which is cool.

Yes, and if they don’t give me enough material, I have to fill in what I think has happened. So they are based on true stories, but they are embellished by me.

And I bet they are hysterical.

We did two of them in Sag Harbor, last summer, I think it was. It was like for a benefit, to raise money for the theater. It got big laughs. I didn’t expect it to be that funny because they’re so true.

So anyway, I’ve been seeing you mentioned everywhere.

It’s because of this play. 

Did you ever consider running for political office?

No. No, absolutely not.

And I want to be your campaign manager, LOL.

Okay, I’ll remember that. No, I was never really interested in being a politician. Absolutely not. Look at how they roll over and capitulate as soon as they’re in a position of power. I don’t go for that.

That’s interesting. That’s probably a good choice in your life, by the way. If you could have me ask you anything on the planet, what would it be?

I don’t know–let me ask my husband. What is something that no one’s ever asked me before that I wish they would ask me? He said, “How fabulous is your husband?” He’s funny. He is also a fabulous editor. He’s in with me on this all the way.

Is there anything about the play that I haven’t asked you and you want to go over?

Well, I want you to be sure to say that everything is anonymous. That they are inspired by true stories. The women were very interested in telling me their stories. Their venting. Umberto Eco says we really can’t understand your life until you tell a story about it. These women that spoke to me got a lot of insight after they spoke about it. And most of them are coming to see it.

Did you ever think of having your ex-husband do a play called My First Ex-Wife?

I tried it. But they don’t give you full answers–they give you one word answers. You know, “Her mother was annoying and she was nagging me”. These things do not make a story. Another thing I asked some of the men at the benefit in the audience was, “Did you feel that this was male bashing?” And they said, “Absolutely not. As a man, I am not like that.” They didn’t relate to it at all.

Eileen Shapiro

Best selling author of "The Star Trek Medical Reference Manual", and feature celebrity correspondent for Get Out Magazine, Louder Than War, and Huffington Post contributor, I've interviewed artists from Adam Ant, Cyndi Lauper, and Annie Lennox to Jennifer Hudson, Rick Springfield, LeAnn Rimes, and thousands in between. My interviews challenge the threat of imagination....

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